IOM: Migrant Arrivals in Europe by Sea Reached 23,664 in First 14 Days of 2016

You are here

IOM: Migrant Arrivals in Europe by Sea Reached 23,664 in First 14 Days of 2016

Posted:

01/15/16

Themes:

Humanitarian Emergencies, Missing Migrants

Greece - Migrant arrivals in Europe by sea averaged over 1,700 per day during the first 14 days of 2016, according to IOM. The period also saw the year’s first fatalities in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, a route that took the lives of almost 3,000 migrants and refugees in 2015.

Total fatalities recorded for migrants and refugees in the region were 59 through the year’s first two weeks, not including at least 11 people killed in two bus crashes in Turkey last week. Authorities believe the victims were customers of smugglers supervising their journey to launching points on Turkey’s coast.

Arrivals by Sea and Deaths in the Mediterranean 1 - 14 January 2016

Country of Arrival

Arrivals

Deaths

Italy

362

9
(Central Med route)

Malta

0

Greece

23,302

50
(Eastern Med route)

Cyprus

0

Spain

0

(Western Med and Western African routes)

Estimated Total

23,664

59

IOM Rome counts in its current total 105 migrants rescued at sea on Wednesday and brought to Augusta. Around 450 additional migrants were rescued at sea and will be brought to land on Friday. This last rescue operation has not been included in today’s tally.

Arrivals by Sea in Italy - January - December 2014/2015

2014

2015

January

2,171

3,528

February

3,335

4,354

March

5,459

2,283

April

15,679

16,063

May

14,599

21,221

June

22,641

22,905

July

24,031

23,186

August

24,774

22,607

September

26,107

15,924

October

15,393

8,916

November

9,179

3,218

December

6,732

9,637

TOTAL

170,100

153,842

About two-thirds of last year’s 153,842 arrivals in Italy came from just six countries: Eritrea, Nigeria,Somalia, Sudan, Syria, the Gambia.

Eritrea, the #1 sender, increased its contingent to 39, 162, up over 10 per cent from 2014’s total, replacing Syria as the top sending country. Syrians, who mainly travelled to Europe from Turkey, sent just 7,448 migrants and refugees via Libya, down from 42,323 in 2014. Nigeria (22,237 in 2015), Somalia (12,433) and Sudan (8,932) all doubled their contributions on the route. The Gambia, the sixth largest sender, saw its numbers decline slightly, to 8,454.

Arrivals by Sea in Italy - Main Countries of Origin
January – December 2014/2015
(Source: Italian Ministry of Interior)